I had the utmost pleasure of speaking with Menna Khalil, an activist with the Arab Spring movement the Middle East, specifically Palestine and Egypt. For the duration of our talk we covered her personal background, the current state of the movement, and the influence of modern media on the state of the revolution.

Menna was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, until the age of 10. At this point her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is home to a large, supportive Palestinian culture. She attended DePaul University in Chicago. During this time she joined Students for Justice in Palestine.

As a member of SJP for all four years of her college career, Menna continued the traditions of activism and connection that the predecessors of the club began. During her time as member, Menna helped to coordinate speakers and film festivals for Palestinian rights and activism, concerts from Palestinian groups, as well as an over two-year-long project to bring Palestinian works to the art museum on-campus.

By bringing together the DePaul community, the Chicago community, and the Palestinian arts communities together, Menna's work with SJP influenced a large portion of the activism work she would continue through her current graduate studies and field work in Egypt.

Her work during college combined with her family heritage has "absolutely" connect Menna to her current activism work.

Part Two of our interview will detail the current Arab Spring movement, about which Menna and her husband, Michael Kennedy, will be talking this evening (7pm, Williams 225, Ithaca College).